J.D. Power: Toyota, Honda GM Rule Blogs

According to a report released today by the quality monitors at J.D. Power and Associates, analysis of 40 million blog posts during the past six months reveals that Toyota, GM, and Honda generate a high volume of blog posts regarding environmental sustainability, and that those posts reveal a higher-than-average number of positive mentions regarding the same subject. This marks the organization's first research of exactly this kind, and it comes from J.D. Power's Web Intelligence Division, which "specializes in blog research and consumer generated media for market insight."

The study looked at consumer blogging regarding environmental sustainability, global warming, purchase trends, and user demographics. J.D. Power states that this report is "designed to provide automotive industry executives with ongoing measures of the extent of consumer engagement around the topic of sustainability."

The leaders in volume of posts as well as positive mentions were GM, Honda, and Toyota. Interestingly, Nissan outscored all brands in positive discussion, with 56 percent of posts mentioning the company positively regarding sustainability, but rings in with a total volume of only 2 percent. In contrast, top volume of blog discussions regarding sustainability was pegged by Toyota, which captured 14 percent in that measurement.

While consumer interest and opinion shouldn't be the only thing driving green technology and investment forward--just as opinion polls shouldn't be the only things underpinning our politician's announcements and decisions--J.D. Power and Associates' interesting new studies highlight the importance of environmental sustainability to today's automotive customers and might also stir up some healthy competition between automakers on this new forefront of automotive research, design, and sales.--Colin Mathews 2009 Honda FitEnlarge PhotoAccording to a report released today by the quality monitors at J.D. Power and Associates, analysis of 40 million blog posts during the past six months reveals that Toyota, GM, and Honda generate a high volume of blog posts regarding environmental sustainability, and that those posts reveal a higher-than-average number of positive mentions regarding the same subject. This marks the organization's first research of exactly this kind, and it comes from J.D. Power's Web Intelligence Division, which "specializes in blog research and consumer generated media for market insight." The study looked at consumer blogging regarding environmental sustainability, global warming, purchase trends, and user demographics. J.D. Power states that this report is "designed to provide automotive industry executives with ongoing measures of the extent of consumer engagement around the topic of sustainability." The leaders in volume of posts as well as positive mentions were GM, Honda, and Toyota. Interestingly, Nissan outscored all brands in positive discussion, with 56 percent of posts mentioning the company positively regarding sustainability, but rings in with a total volume of only 2 percent. In contrast, top volume of blog discussions regarding sustainability was pegged by Toyota, which captured 14 percent in that measurement. While consumer interest and opinion shouldn't be the only thing driving green technology and investment forward--just as opinion polls shouldn't be the only things underpinning our politician's announcements and decisions--J.D. Power and Associates' interesting new studies highlight the importance of environmental sustainability to today's automotive customers and might also stir up some healthy competition between automakers on this new forefront of automotive research, design, and sales.--Colin Mathews